SOUTH HADLEY — South Hadley will disable social media comments on all town-run accounts, primarily Facebook, starting July 1.

The cause for the change was not negativity, but funding, according to town officials. All government social media account activity must be archived to comply with the Massachusetts Public Records Law.

Town Administrator Lisa Wong said South Hadley previously contracted this service out to ArchiveSocial, but terminated the contract to save money. The town’s subscription to ArchiveSocial, a service powered by government technology company CivicPlus, costs about $10,000 a year.

“We need to have a record if a comment is deleted from an old post,” Wong wrote in an email, “At any time, any poster can go into any post and make a new comment or delete something from years ago. To keep track of that and have a screenshot record is not currently available as a feature in social media apps.”

The change was announced in a South Hadley Police Department social media post on Monday. The department said it did not want this, but it has been decided based on a new town policy. Police said they would continue to post announcements and public safety information on the department’s Facebook page.

“This change is not something we wanted but it is being implemented in accordance with the Town of South Hadley policy related to public records retention requirements and budget limitations affecting the Town’s ability to archive social media comments,” the Police Department wrote on its Facebook page.

The South Hadley budget gap for fiscal 2027 was estimated at $3.5 million. Town Meeting added $1.7 million of free cash to the budget for the School Department and library but the remaining $1.8 million gap hit all other town departments. Voters did not support two separate overrides, one for $9 million and another for $11 million, in April.

South Hadley has social media accounts for the South Hadley Police Department, public library, schools, Town Hall and South Hadley Community Television. All of these pages will still run without the comment function.

Residents are encouraged to contact departments directly by phone or email with any questions or concerns.

Massachusetts General Law defines every correspondence received or sent by government employees as public record. This includes social media posts and comments, according to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

According to a 2023 Massachusetts Municipal Association presentation on social media best practices, an archive service is preferred because it documents not only the post itself, but the metadata of any changes. Metadata, or data about data, holds up in court. Screenshots have their own metadata or may miss changes in comment sections.

No other police departments in Hampshire or Franklin Counties have disabled their comment sections. Holyoke, Monson, and Palmer all have shut down comments on their accounts.